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Not sure I should comment on this since I have about a 250 batting average on briskets myself. Have you verified your thermometers? 8 hours seems a long time to cook a flat at those temperatures. I've ever done a flat before so that alone should disqualify my opinion.

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I know hot and fast is en vogue for brisket on other forums, but that type of cook doesn't necessarily take advantage of the better qualities of a ceramic.

Another part of the equation is the wrap. I've never been a fan of the Texas crutch to push through the stall on a Kamado. I'd consider wrapping based on color and let the cooker do the heavy lifting. It might take longer, but you'll probably have more consistent brisket.

Cold brisket is quite dry and dense, no matter what you do. That's why I refrigerate it before slicing, so it slices easily. The secret to brisket is the juice has a lot of fat and gelatin that's solid when cold.

Which is, perhaps, what I do differently. I always foil, but as a boat to collect fluid expressed as the meat moves through the stall to done. It's not insignificant, about an ounce per pound after skimming fat. Completely jellied when refrigerated, incredibly good as a dipping sauce, or pooled under slices. It really brings the rub flavors to the interior.

I do the same things with pulled pork, and the fluid's completely re-absorbed. If you shredded it, I bet brisket would do the same.

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Popping open the cryovac brisket and plopping it in the smoker offers more room for error since you have so much fat to protect the tip and flat. But that is a lot of meat for my current family of 3 (couple off to college). In fact yesterday I cut a Smart and Final cryovac brisket into 3 separate pieces and left most of the fat, but I am sure it will not be as error proof as cooking it whole. We'll know tomorrow around 4:00 pst:) . On another topic I will be experimenting with the plate-setter/no plate-setter debate. When I did this in the early 2000's I never used a heat deflector. Sometimes 3 or 4 pork butts at a time for 36 hours. As long as the temp was stable at 200 I had no issues. Except for soot management. My BGE has the plate setter which I will try on some cooks and not on others. Place your bets on the outcome of my not so scientific experiment.

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If you have a vacuum sealer and a sous vide you’re all set. I make one large brisket and it usually lasts me a few months. I’m the only one who eats it sliced. My kids will do tacos, and sometimes I make chili. I love it and it tastes just like the day I made it.

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Cooking my first brisket on the KJ Classic 2 and had a lot of trouble with thick white smoke. My process below, if anybody can help me find the mistake it would be much appreciated!

- Loaded KJ with Jealous Devil lump charcoal and mix ~5-7 oak log chunks of medium (?) size. Logs were highly likely kiln dried but I did get them in firewood-like logs from a meat market vs the mass distro grocery store/home improvement bags
- Used Royal Oak starters and got the lump lit for about 15 minutes, then a couple of the oak chunks caught and I got a decent fire.
- Closed the top but opened the vent fully to try to let it smoke out and carbonize. Temp jumped pretty quickly to about 350 so I choked it back and got it stable around 260 but the thick white smoke continued for a solid 45+ minutes at which point I had no choice but to start the meat
- White smoke continued for another hour+ after this, albeit it didnt billow out quite as aggressively. This went on for a couple of hours at least which seemed like an excessively long time.

So I am smoking my first brisket on my Kamado Joe Classic II and pretty well following Johns Brisket 101 video from the Kamado Joe YouTube channel. It has been on about 4 hours at 225 degrees and my dome temp was steady until it started to rise about 30 min ago. It stopped about 250 degrees and seems to be holding steady there now. Any advice on why this happened and if it’s okay? Should I try to lower it? If so, what is the best method. Getting good blueish smoke and have been for most of the cook. Any help would be appreciated.

This weekend I'm attempting my first dual-cook, a pork shoulder/butt and a brisket flat. I have a KJ Classic and an Akorn Jr, so I could do the pork on the Junior and brisket on the classic and not worry about it. But for the sake of only using one grill for two things that cook generally the same in terms of temp (also admittedly, I just kinda want to try it), I'm planning to use the extender rack on the KJ, put the butt on that then add the flat under it a few hours later as I'm anticipating less time for the flat than the butt (Never done just a flat, only packers, but I think the flats take less time?).

Has anyone ever done this? My only concern is the butt dripping fat all over the brisket, not sure if that will change the flavor or get it all greasy and it's a big no-no? Or will it not mess with the flat at all and if anything make it better from dripping fat all over it and keeping it from drying out?

As we all know, there's a big game next weekend, which means a big-time cook to match. I have a vacuum sealed frozen brisket that's around 15 pounds that I'll need to thaw out. I've not done this with such a large piece of meat, and some folks have me worried that if the outside ends up being too warm too long people will die. I don't have room to let it slowly thaw in the fridge, and it is hurt-your-hands frozen. Is there a certain method I should use? Surely a cooler full of water would be fine, right? Just don't know how long it'll take. Thanks for the help, folks!